To Neverland
by tardisstealer
Summary: On their way to Neverland Regina and Emma share a conversation in the early hours of the morning.


**To Neverland**

This was their fourth night aboard the Jolly Roger and being at sea for so long was making Emma restless. She felt claustrophobic and helpless, given the fact that Henry was God knows where with two people she wouldn't hesitate to call psychopaths. Hook had reassured them that they were no more than a day's travel from Neverland, where they were hoping to find Henry. Sometimes it still caught Emma by surprise that places like Neverland really did exist. She supposed she should've gotten used to it by now but well, it was still all straight out of a fairy tale book for her and admittedly sometimes she did find it an abstract concept to cope with.

Meanwhile, for the past four days Emma had taken up residence in a makeshift bed below deck. Sleeping arrangements had been awkward because the space available had been limited. Emma had no idea where Hook slept, she wasn't even sure that Gold did sleep and her parents slept right below decks where things like rope and the anchor was stored. So that left Regina and Emma confined to the kind of parlour of the ship. Together. It was strange the first night, going to sleep not only in such unusual surroundings but also in relatively close proximity to Regina. Still, tiredness won over her weariness of Regina sleeping so close by and she fell asleep soon after her head rested on a pile of clothes she was using as a pillow.

The second night Emma had heard Regina get out of bed, put on her coat and boots and head above deck. Emma squinted in the dark, still half-asleep and watched her go, wondering what the hell she was doing up at that time. She then decided it wasn't her business if Regina had a tendency for late nights or early mornings or whatever and without a chance to ponder on the topic much more Emma was soon overcome by her incessant tiredness.

The third night when Regina slipped out of bed to go above deck again Emma's curiosity won over. She waited until Regina had left the room to put on her boots and sneak up the stairs leading to the deck. Emma very nearly tripped up the stairs but caught herself from doing so, internally cursing her clumsiness which she was almost entirely sure she'd inherited from her dad, he was only not clumsy when he was handling a sword, which was just as well Emma supposed. Regina had left the hatch separating the deck and the rooms underneath open, which was lucky because Emma probably would've forgotten it was there and hit her head on it if it had been closed. The sky was pretty shades of pinks and yellows, a sign of the very early morning, the moon still lightly visible in the sky. Emma felt that the air was cool but in a wonderfully fresh way and the wind was relatively calm, at least a lot calmer than it had been in previous days. Perhaps, early mornings weren't all that bad every once in a while, she mused to herself, pulling herself onto deck.

Emma saw that Regina was sitting at the far end of the ship, on one of the miscellaneous crates that everyone had been using as seats. She walked over, trying to look nonchalant and sat down on a crate not too far away from Regina. Emma turned her attention to the sea, following the white, frothy caps of the waves move along in a naturally mechanic way. There was silence except from the sounds of the boat moving against the water, they sat like that for a few minutes. It wasn't a particularly comfortable or uncomfortable silence it was just kind of there.

"You never struck me as a morning person Miss Swan." Regina commented, without turning her head, her eyes never leaving the horizon which she seemed to be staring at.

She rolled her eyes at Regina's sarcasm; Emma was notorious for her lie-ins which had gotten her into trouble with Regina countless times back when she was the Mayor and Emma was the Sheriff and everything was simple. Well, as simple as things ever got in Storybrooke that was. "Well I've never been woken up at dawn before on a pirate's ship. Or anywhere in fact because every sane person's still asleep at this time." Emma replied, still somewhat sleepily.

"I thought you were a deep sleeper." Regina said with a shrug by means of explanation. She looked like she was about to add something else but she opened her mouth only to close it again.

"Pirate ships do things to your sleeping patterns." Emma murmured, tapping her fingers softly against the crate; she was fidgety out of habit, "Anyway what are you even doing up this early Regina?"

"Is that any of your business?" Regina asked, daring Emma to challenge her which is of course what Emma did.

"Hey, you were the one who woke me up." Emma reminded her, sighing at Regina's typical defensive attitude. She continued, her voice more gentle, "I was only asking to see if you were okay because of Henry and everything…"

Regina looked down, she was holding the diamond that had threatened to blow up all of Storybrooke in her hands, moving it from one hand to the other, almost absentmindedly, "I'm not a morning person either, really," she explained, her tone quiet, soft and very strange to hear coming from Regina, "But everything seems a lot clearer at this time. It's too noisy during the day and I can't concentrate on anything with Gold and the rest of them plotting together." Emma glanced at Regina whose cheeks were tinged slightly red out of embarrassment, she guessed she hadn't planned on sharing that much with her. Regina had a point though, right now Emma was feeling more focused than she had done the entirety of their journey.

"We'll get him back you know," Emma said, not really knowing how else to respond to Regina's confession, Henry was easy to talk to her about; he was their common ground, their mutual interest, "Hook says we're probably only a few more days, at the most, from Neverland and-"

"What if he's not in Neverland?" Regina countered, an edge of desperation in her voice now, "Everyone seems convinced we'll find him there but what if we don't? Portals are unpredictable at the best of times…" She trailed off, consumed by the pessimistic thoughts that had haunted her ever since she'd seen Henry be dragged into that portal with those two lunatics. Emma was taking on the role of the more optimistic of the two but at Regina's questioning she found herself lost for what to say. What if they didn't find Henry? Where would they go next, what would they do next? They didn't have a plan B, their plan A was vague enough already with the simple aim to sail to Neverland and hunt down Henry when they reached it. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Emma considering Regina's questions and Regina restoring her face to its perfect mask whilst constantly moving the diamond in her hands.

"Look, even _if _Henry isn't Neverland, we will find him because we're _not _going to stop looking," Emma insisted, completely bemused when she turned to find Regina lightly smiling and shaking her head.

"I apologise Miss Swan but I never can take you seriously when you sound so like your parents." Regina explained, still smiling a ghost of a smile. A smile that wasn't likely to return in full until she had Henry back in her arms. Meanwhile, Emma pulled an oh-god sort of face, when did she start repeating her parents' tag line? She hadn't even realised she was doing it, bloody hell.

"Please never say that again." Emma moaned and shaking her head but smiling a little despite herself and despite the conversation they had been having.

"Only if you never say your parents' catchphrase again." Regina replied with a smirk, "I always did find it slightly nauseating." Emma rolled her eyes, although admittedly relieved that Regina was still able to act like herself even if it was just that, an act.

"Couldn't agree more," Emma admitted, sincerely hoping that her parents were still somewhere fast asleep because she doubted that they'd appreciate hearing that. She yawned, she was feeling equally awake and sleepy, which was a confusing feeling to say the least, "How long do you plan on sitting up here for anyway?"

"How long do you plan on sitting here disrupting my peace?" responded Regina swiftly, raising an eyebrow as if to emphasise the fact that her question was genuine and she wanted an answer.

Emma considered this, she'd been up for too long in the cool air to feel tired enough to go back to sleep now, "You know, I think I'm good here for at least a couple more hours." She smiled to herself and felt childish for doing so because she thought it'd be amusing to annoy Regina, even if it was with just the small things.

Regina surprised Emma by merely asking, "So you're a morning person now?" and positioned herself more comfortably on her crate before turning back to scanning the horizon.

"Just this once, I blame the pirate ship." Emma avowed with a shrug and settled herself for the next two hours, subconsciously acknowledging the fact that it wasn't the pirate ship or the fact that she was feeling almost awake from keeping her from going back to sleep at all.


End file.
